Late Autumn in Mori-machi (2) - Daitoin Temple

From Okuni Jinja, I walked further toward the next destination Daitoin. It was about 4.7 km from Oukni Jinja, and the road sometimes became steep. It was really a lonely mountain road. If it had not been for a walking event, I couldn’t have walked there alone. At least, I could always see a few people walking behind or in front of me on my way to Daitoin.

Daitoin is a temple famous for the grave of a gangster Mori-no-Ishimatsu who lived in the 19th century. It is believed that you can have a gambling luck if you cut the gravestone and keep the fragment of it. But in front of the gravestone, there was a notice saying that the temple sells amulets containing a fragment of the gravestone and it is forbidden to cut it by yourself to take the fragment home.

As in Okuni Jinja, I could enjoy the glowing color of autumn leaves.

The old building for zen meditation had a quainter atmosphere than in other seasons.

Mori-no-Ishimatsu and his boss Shimizu Jirocho welcome you all year round.

This is a sculpture of a dragon on the wall of the main building.

I went down the stairs. The trees looked better from beneath.

I didn’t know what this stone and the plant beside it were, but the red color was beautiful.

It was a luck that the walking event in Mori-machi was held just on that weekend as we could enjoy autumn leaves both in Okuni Jinja and Daitoin. We still had to walk 4.4 km, however, I was very satisfied and continued to walk to the residential area of the town. On our way to the goal, Enshu-Mori Station, there was a shop selling gelato. According to the map, they make their original gelato according to the seasons.

At first, I didn’t feel like eating gelato at this time of year. However, I got curious as many people went inside the shop and ordered various kinds of gelato. They had a popular set of five kinds of gelato that you could choose from many options. I chose strawberry, Mikkabi mandarin orange, chestnut, green tea, and persimmon gelato. The major ingredients were from towns in Enshu or western Shizuoka Prefecture. Mikkabi mandarin oranges were from the north of Lake Hamana. Chestnuts were from Kakegawa, and green tea and persimmons were from Mori-machi. I started eating from the persimmon gelato with a spoon. I had never eaten one before but found it very delicious. Each of gelato had its original strong taste of the ingredient, and I thought they were the best gelato I had ever eaten. The last one was green tea gelato. It was good to finish with the rich bitter taste of tea from Mori-machi.

The name of the shop is Aria, and it was about 1.5 km from Enshu Mori Station. Even after the walking event, I keep the map so that I can visit there again on some other occasions.

Late autumn in Mori-machi (1) - Okuni Jinja Shrine

At the end of November, my mother and I went to Kyoto and enjoyed the beautiful view of autumn leaves. After that I didn’t think it necessary to go elsewhere to see them further. However, I participated in Sawayaka Walking in Mori-machi last Saturday, hoping to have another chance to have a magnificent view in the mountainous area.

This time, I bought a one-day pass for Enshu Railway + Tenhama Line (eastern route) for 1480 yen. It provides unlimited rides between Shin-Hamamatsu and Nishikajima and between Nishikajima and Kakegawa.

I left Shin-Hamamatsu Station at 7:48, changed the train at Nishikajima, and arrived at Totoumi-Ichinomiya Station at 8:49. It was cloudy, and the distance of the walking course was 13 km. The first destination was Okuni Jinja, the highest-class shrine in western Shizuoka Prefecture. It was about 4 km from the station, and we walked mostly in rural landscape. When passing by some fields, I saw two men cutting cosmos along the fields by machines. Before they were completely cut, I managed to take pictures of them. It was unexpected to see cosmos in December.

When I came to Okuni Jinja, I wondered if I could really see colorful leaves in the shrine.

But my expectation grew as I walked further inside.

The view around the pond was gorgeous.

Glowing red leaves were simply wonderful.

I thought I was very lucky to come there on that day. It was also nice that there weren’t many people even in front of the main building. I imagined how it would be crowded on the New Year’s Day.

After making a prayer, I went out from the exit on the right. There I found the most beautiful leaves I had ever seen!

Along the both side of a brook, there was a walking trail. It may have been the best time to stroll under the trees, with strong contrast of colors. I went over a small bridge.

The colors were as gorgeous as on the other side.

I enjoyed the view to my heart’s content. After that I visited Kotomachi Yokocho, a small area in front of the shrine where you can buy some sweets, drinks, etc. One of the shops was selling oyaki or buns stuffed with turnip greens and adzuki bean soup that are suitable snack for vegans.

I just drank hot amazake or a fermented rice drink. It is always very sweet, but I like it.

In Kotomachi Yokocho, you can find many traditional Japanese sweets. There was also a shop selling fresh warabimochi, jelly-like sweets made from bracken starch. They were sold with kinako or soybean powder, or macha or powdered green tea sprinkled on them.

In front of this shop, there was a rest area with tables and chairs. I had a seasonal snack consisting of warabimochi and daigakuimo or candied sweet potato. It was 500 yen, and I thought it was too expensive for its small size. But fresh soft warabimochi was very good. Daigakuimo was well fried   outside and soft inside. It wasn’t too sweet and was also good. I bought a small pack of warabimochi additionally to take home and proceeded walking.

Autumn leaves in Jakkoin, Kyoto

Last weekend, my mother and I went to Kyoto by Shinkansen. We left JR Hamamatsu Station at 7:49. The train was full of people as it was the best season to see autumn leaves. At first, we couldn’t have seats but managed to find ones when some passengers got off the train at Mikawa Anjo in Aichi Prefecture. After arriving at Kyoto at 9:37, we bought a one-day pass respectively that provides unlimited number of rides on the subway and three kinds of buses.

Kyoto have many famous spots for autumn leaves viewing. This time, we were going to Ohara that is a bit distant from the downtown. Usually it takes about 60 minutes to get there by bus, but we took the subway to Kokusai Kaikan (last station) and then the bus to Ohara. They increased the number of buses to Ohara during the autumn leaves season. We could take the bus soon and have seats. However, it took longer than usual to get to Ohara because the roads were crowded.

Bus stop in fromt of Kokusai Kaikan Station

Ohara is a mountainous rural area in Kyoto. Our main destination is Jakkoin, one of the famous temples in Ohara. On our way there, we enjoy a view of old-style houses surrounded by beautiful nature.

It was a little over 11:00, and we had lunch in Tamba Chaya. Though their lunch sets weren’t vegetarian because they used dried bonito broth for the main dishes such as buckwheat noodles, they included several kinds of local pickles. People in this area cultivate some vegetables that are a little different from those in Hamamatsu. They were growing very well.

Jakkoin is a very old temple that is said to have been built in 594. If you search with “Jakkoin Temple”, you can find some explanations of its long history, especially about Kenreimon-in who was the mother of Emperor Antoku. She became a nun after her clan Heike was destroyed in the Battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185. In this temple, she consoled the spirits of the people in the Heike clan, including her son Emperor Antoku who passed away during the battle at the age of six. Apart from the historical events, I thought Jakkoin is a temple worth visiting. My mother first visited there more than 50 years ago but still remembered the beautiful autumn leaves that covered the stairs to the temple. This time, we couldn’t have such a view, however, their garden was still impressive to see. According to the map, the building over there is a tea ceremony room.

We climbed up further to go to the main building.

From the stairs, we could see fallen leaves on the green moss on the roofs (one of them is that of the entrance of the garden).

This is the main building. The autumn leaves behind it were so beautiful. We got inside and heard about the history of the temple.

This is the Belfry of Shogyo Mujo. It is a Buddhist word used at the beginning of the Tale of the Heike, meaning “all things must pass.”

I highly recommend vising Jakkoin at this time of year if you come to Kyoto and have time. Although it was one of the best seasons to visit Kyoto, there weren’t many people on the road to Jakkoin. You can soak up in the tranquility and beauty of the nature.

In addition, they have traditional pickles called shibazuke. They are one of the three popular kinds of pickles in Kyoto. The ones I got from my mother are made of traditional ingredients only: eggplant, red perilla, Japanese ginger, and salt. According to a legend, people in Ohara presented these pickles to Kenreimon-in in Jakkoin. She liked it very much and named them shibazuke (shiba (紫葉) means a purple leaf). This pack was sold in a shop on our way to Sanzen-in, another famous temple in Ohara. I found these pickles very sour, almost as sour as a pickled plum for which red perilla is also used.

Even now, red perilla is a specialty of Ohara. Tamba Chaya near Jakkoin have juice made from red perilla they cultivate by themselves. I regret a little not to have ordered and tasted it. It may be as good as shibazuke though it may be much sweeter than the pickles.

Japanese tea time at Saryo Itoen

The other day, I heard that many tourists from abroad have difficulty finding a café where they can drink Japanese tea. I had never thought of that before as Shizuoka Prefecture is a big production area of tea and we daily drink our tea, especially middle-grade green tea, at home and working places. It may be difficult to find Japanese tea on the menu of an ordinary western-style café, however, there are also Japanese style cafés where you can eat traditional sweets with Japanese tea. They are called “amamidokoro” or “kanmidokoro” (there are two ways to read Chinese characters 甘味処). I can’t remember if there are any such cafés in the downtown, but there is a convenient place to drink tea near JR Hamamatsu Station. It is Saryo Itoen in the basement of the main building of Entetsu Department Store.

Itoen is a shop selling tea leaves, and Saryo Itoen is its eating area. They have a variety of tea, soft-serve ice cream and some Japanese sweets in their menu. The food samples looked delicious!

Among the sweets, there are two vegan options: Shiratama Zenzai and Matcha Shiratama Zentzai. Shiratama Zenzai is adzuki bean soup with rice flour dumplings. When I went there today, I chose the one with matcha or powdered green tea. It didn’t take long before it was served.

In fact, I was disappointed to see this because it looked very different from the food sample. After stirring it with the spoon, however, I found many adzuki beans hidden under the surface.

The adzuki bean soup is hot and the dumplings melted in my mouth. As it was very sweet, I couldn’t feel the taste of tea very well. However, I thought it very good to have when you are tired or on a cold day. When I ate it up, I felt slight bitterness of powdered green tea. It was surely different from ordinary adzuki soup.

As zenzai was so sweet, I felt like drinking tea additionally. I went to the counter again and ordered hot hojicha or roasted green tea. As for tea, you can choose hot or cold tea. When it was served, I felt the excellent aroma of the tea immediately. This is one of the reasons why I like roasted green tea.

It had a mild flavor. I noticed that it wasn’t too hot and easy to drink. Maybe they control its temperature carefully to extract its flavor well. I was very impressed by that. By using this tea, they provide a seasonal menu item Hojicha Shiruko or adzuki bean soup with roasted green tea. Both hojicha and adzuki beans have an effect to warm up you body. I think I’ll come back on a cold day in December.

Now is the season of autumn leaves, and Itoen has other seasonal products such as green tea flavored with yuzu, a citrus fruit that also warm up your body. There were also chocolate flavored three kinds of tea and wasanbon or Japanese refined sugar.

Regardless the season, deep-steamed green tea in Shizuoka Prefecture is a popular product, I guess.

In addition to Itoen, there are some other places in the department store and the train station where local tea leaves are sold. Some shops let you taste tea.

This is the 200th article of this blog. At first, I didn’t intend to continue so long, but I found it interesting to introduce our local products and traditional food and enjoyed writing. Now, I’ll take a rest for a while. I’m not sure if I'll restart writing or not. I’d like to thank you all and hope you will enjoy your stay in Hamamatsu if you live in/have a chance to come to Hamamatsu.

Nostalgy in Hamamatsu Diorama Factory

In the article on November 12, I introduced some diorama works in Saigagake Museum in which historical scenes were realistically created with figures. They were made by Takuji Yamada, a modeler from Hamamatsu. In Zaza West in the downtown, there is Hamamatsu Diorama Factory where you can see his other works as well as those made by other people.

As the museum is in a shopping center, the museum is open until 20:00. It is on the 2nd floor of the building, beyond a candy store selling old style sweets for children. As it is prohibited to take pictures in this store, I can’t show you how it looks. However, I I’m sure its nostalgic atmosphere attracts many people. When I went there this evening, there were some groups of high school students selecting sweets.

After I paid the admission fee at the counter of the candy store, the salesclerk guided me to the museum. Fortunately, you can take pictures of the entrance and inside of the museum.

This is the family of the modeler Takuji Yamada. On his desk, there is another diorama work that looks like this one!

“A Police and A Thief” is comical and his one of the most famous work.

This is “A Dinner In Autumn 1965.”

I think this work is more vivid. All the family members are in kotatsu or a Japanese foot warmer and watching TV.

Kotatsu can be used as a working table. I remember how I envied my cousins who used to build plastic models when we were little. I wanted to have plastic models instead of dolls, but I didn’t dare to ask my parents to buy them.

I think parents should present various options of toys so that children can choose freely whatever they like regardless of their sex. This is “Christmas Eve.”

There were also other kinds of works such as Gandum,

and 20000 Leagues Under The Sea.

If you love diorama and models, this spot may be a must to visit. On the first floor of Zaza West, there are some other works exhibited free of charge.

Hamamatsu Diorama Factory
Address: ZAZA West 2F, 15 Kaji-machi, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka
Tel. 053-489-3725
Open hours: 10:00-20:00 (last entry 19:30)
Access: 8-minute walk from JR Hamamatsu Station

Chestnut rice with Tianjin sweet roasted chestnut

Tianjin sweet roasted chestnuts (天津甘栗 (tenshin-amaguri)) or sweet chestnuts (甘栗(amaguri)) are one of popular snacks in Japan. They are available in any supermarkets, convenience stores, drugstores, etc. all year round. I thought for a long time that they were called so because the chestnuts were cultivated in Tianjin, China, but I was wrong. In fact, it is because the chestnuts were shipped from the port in Tianjin. They have been cultivated in Yan mountains in Hebei Province, which is known as a production area of good chestnuts.

The other day, I found a reasonable pack of Tianjin sweet roasted chestnuts, which contained 4 bags of 100g chestnuts.

They were organically cultivated and had a cut on the shells so that they could be removed easily. There are also sweet chestnuts sold without shells.

As I have introduced before, chestnut rice is a popular dish in autumn. It takes a long time to make it as it is difficult to remove the shells and skins of ordinary chestnuts. However, it is very easy by using Tianjin sweet roasted chestnuts. I made it with 360 ml of rice, one bag of Tianjin sweet roasted chestnuts (80g after the shells and skins were removed), a pinch of salt, and a little say sauce. I don’t know how much water was required, because I used a pot and added water later as necessary. But if you use a rice cooker, 400 ml of water may be enough. To add a flavor, you can also use sake.

As the name implies, chestnuts are sweet. They are good as they are but also suitable to use for chestnut rice. As they were moderately sweet, I thought it would be ok to add some other ingredients such as shimeji mushroom and tofu skin. As I have still three bags, I can do some experiment.

Tojikuri - Traditional sweet from Misakubo

Hamamatsu is the second largest city in Japan in surface area (about 1,558 km2). In Soramo, a space between the two buildings of Entetsu Department Store, an outdoor market is held sometimes, in which you can buy some traditional food from mountainous area that is several tens kilometers away from the downtown. Today I found Tojikuri from Misakubo, the northern most area in Hamamatsu that is adjacent to Nagano Prefecture. I bought one pack with six pieces.

They were gray as they contained buckwheat flour. Other ingredients were rice, beans, sugar, and salt. I wondered why Tojikuri contained rice as Misakubo is a mountainous area that has no rice field. In addition, what kind of beans are they? According to some websites, Tojikuri is a traditional sweet in Misakubo and Sakuma in the northern part of Hamamatsu. It was originally made for Buddha’s birthday only, and its shape is made to resemble the head of Buddha.

In fact, I ate three pieces at a time because they were so good. They contained roasted soybeans, which gave an accent to the mild sweetness of the buckwheat dumplings. I think Tojikuri was a real find in the outdoor market where you can find many other vegan products as well.